THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A special collective drive for dry waste collection will restart in the city from Saturday. The collection drive is being held by the City Corporation. As part of the drive, collection points will be set up in all the wards and the collection of the non-biodegradable waste will be held from 8am to 12.30pm. On Saturday, waste materials such as clothes, sandals and bags will be collected. This will be followed by collection of glass waste on January 22 and collection of CFL and tube lights on January 29.
Two agencies selected for zone-based collection will carry out the drive. The agencies were roped in after the health standing committee made a proposal before the city corporation to collect dry waste from households and commercial establishments. “As per the proposal, the corporation will earn money from transporting 14 types of waste while the transportation of bags, clothes, sandals, and road waste will be charged.
For the biodegradable-waste such as pet bottles and hard plastic, the corporation will get Rs 15 and Rs 13, respectively,” said a corporation official. For the plastic milk covers, which are often found dumped near roadsides, the corporation will earn Rs 13 per kg. While the collection and transportation of bags, clothes, and sandals will cost nearly Rs 5 to Rs 8 per kg to the corporation, Rs 7.7 per kg will be charged for transporting road waste.
Along with the implementation of the special dry waste collection drive, the corporation officials will be banning the use of single-use plastic having thickness below 75 microns and strict enforcement of the rule will be conducted. “From Saturday, we will ensure that single-use plastic below 75 microns is not available in the market.
In this regard, we had already held a meeting with the hotel and restaurant association members and created awareness among them about the plastic alternatives,” said P Jameela Sreedharan, health standing committee chairman.
She also highlighted that the Haritha Keralam Mission and the Suchitwa Mission have been given the charge to collect the non-biodegradable waste. Even some of the Kudumbashree members have been roped in for the purpose. “ We are currently forming the Haritha karma sena in every ward. A meeting was held in 362 wards and collection of non-biodegradable waste in about 38 wards with the help of the haritha karma senas has already begun. Besides this, kitchen bins and biogas plants have been set up at households for the segregation of biodegradable waste,” said the official.
Highlighting the issue of illegal waste collection in the city, the official said, “ Due to the increasing number of illegal waste collectors, a provision has been made where other people collecting waste can join the haritha karma sena. This is also being done to ensure that waste is not dumped carelessly in the city,” the official added.
Intensive drive
Two agencies selected for zone-based collection will carry out the drive. The agencies were roped in after the health standing committee made a proposal to collect dry waste from households and commercial establishment. The use of single-use plastic having thickness below 75 microns also will be banned as part of the drive